I am reprinting here our newsletter from October of 2004. It records the astounding events of our performance of Heaven Needs Firemen at the Key Club on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood California.

Here it is, as I sent it out on that day, unedited, 4 years later:

I don't know what the promoters were thinking when they asked our puppet troupe to play their rock and roll club in Hollywood. Maybe they thought it would be a laugh to watch the "crazy Christians" and their puppets.

Our attitude was "let them laugh" as long as one single soul was brought to Christ...

By the end of the evening, we had 57 Professions of Faith!

57 souls were saved that night!

MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!

Please let me share this uplifting story with you. I had better start at the beginning...

I was a little surprised when we received the phone call. I had never heard of The Key Club, but I was told it was located on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, right next to all the rock and roll clubs with names like The Roxy and The Whiskey.

I was even more surprised when they sent us the flyer for the event. It was called "Puppet Terror". Apparently we would be sharing the bill with a heavy metal band and someone calling herself "Miss Satanica."

In Puppet2Puppet's 12 years of puppet ministry, we have performed in some "far-out" places -- in the terminal wings of hospitals, at an inner-city park recreation center for At-Risk kids, even in a Juvenile Detention facility. But this was a first! I prayed that night and the answer was clear. "Have Puppets, Will Travel" has always been our motto, and nothing was going to change that.

The night of the show, as I waited backstage, I must admit that I was nervous. The load-in had gone smoothly, but there had been some snickers and knowing looks from the heavy metal band during our soundcheck. I knew by now that this club had once been called Gazarri's and that bands like The Doors and Van Halen had started out here. I swear I could almost smell the years of sin.

Our puppeteers were tucked away behind our puppet stage, waiting for me to introduce them and the curtains to open. I heard the announcer call my name and I walked into the lights.

I looked out and 500 rowdy strangers looked back! The crowd seemed to me a sea of black clothing and tattoos. I felt out-of-place in my sweater vest and carrying my bible. I took some comfort knowing that 30 of our people were out there, good Christians who had braved the traffic and the rock and rollers -- people from churches as far away as Orange County and Riverside. A group of young adults from our church even joined me on-stage, to lend moral support...and to get a front row seat, I'm sure!

The rest was a blur. I said something into the microphone about our ministry and the Lord's work. And then I introduced the play.

I must say I was proud of our puppeteers that evening! We performed "Heaven Needs Firemen", one of our most popular and effective puppet plays. The timing and puppetry were impeccable. The club's crew had done a great job, real professionals! We had 7 microphones inside our puppet stage, one for each puppeteer! The lighting was very dramatic -- especially when the firemen appeared in Heaven to fight back Satan and the flames of Hell. Our "fire-hose" worked great, even if our puppeteer did get a little over-eager -- I'm afraid a good many people in the front row got more than a little wet!

We had added a special ending just for the occasion. Our Jesus puppet appeared in our Heaven set to thank the Firemen and welcome them to their eternal reward. He then asked the audience if they were ready to meet their Maker.

The show ended, I mumbled some thanks and a "God Bless" and walked backstage.

That's when the real Miracles began!

Backstage, a crew-member from the club approached me. Voice trembling, he asked me if I would pray with him. My answer was a hearty "Yes!"

But the real surprise happened when I made it out front of the club. I couldn't believe me eyes! There was what seemed like half the audience! They were surrounding our friends from church, some gathered in groups, some talking one-on-one with one of our people.

As the heavy metal music blared from inside, they began to pray. They knelt, right there on the sidewalk! Right there on the Sunset Strip!

By the end of the evening, we had received 57 Professions of Faith! I personally witnessed to a couple with matching devil-head tattoos on their necks and rings through every part of their bodies. Watching their joy as the Lord enter their hearts will be a memory I will cherish forever.

Thank you for letting me share this story. All of us involved in Puppet Ministry know that I can be a sometimes tiring and sometimes thankless task. But the real joy is not in the souls we reach, but in the act of celebrating the love of our Lord!

Please feel free to share this with other Christians who could use a boost!

"Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!" Psalms 66, 1.

I have been gratified by the e-mails we have received over the last 12 years from educators and children pastors, thanking us for our help in reaching out to the children in their congregations.

I hope that we have helped you to make an impact on these "little souls."

Of course, all gratitude goes to God!

If I am blessed to live another 12 years, I hope to someday hear the testimonals of those same children!

Which leads me to speak of my own hero, someone who helped me to find the Lord, besides Pastor Jim Hill (no relation), and that is Jack Chick.

Here are the testimonals that Jack gets daily:

"One day, many years ago, in high school, a girl in my geometry class handed me a copy of THIS IS YOUR LIFE..." -- G.M., Crown Point, IN

"In 1975 while on a naval ship for six months I was first introduced to Chick tracts. A faithful soul kept leaving them around the ship..." -- H., Internet

"Chick tracts made such a lasting impression on me that to this very day my mental picture of judgement day is that pictured in THIS IS YOUR LIFE..." -- K.L., Duncan, AZ

I would like to take this moment to add MY OWN TESTIMONIAL!

"As a child, Jack, I was confused and scared by the entire idea of Halloween. At the same time, all my friends enjoyed the holiday, and believe me you did not have to ask this boy twice to dress up in a scary witch costume. I would dress up, and wander the streets, but worried about my eternal salvation the entire time. One night, a good Christian neighbor handed me a little bag of goodies. I didn't even think twice until later, when my sweet-tooth was (somewhat) sated, I ripped open the baggie and found something special. It was a copy of "The Little Princess" and believe me, it changed my life. Thank you Jack, and keep on keeping on, brother. We're almost neighbors. I live in Riverside." -- J.H., Riverside

All of you are free to make up your own minds, but belive me, Satan Is Real.

Note from Jim:Some members of our puppet ministry community recently started a "string?" of comments about negative reviews on the internet and their impact. I thought I'd share those thoughts with you.

Jim Hill recently took part in a round-table discussion about the importance of ratings and comments on-line

Here are his comments

Neat discussion, Jennifer, Rachel and Jeff.

Boy oh boy, do I know what you guys are talking about. Since Puppet2Puppet is a collective and everyone is encouraged to share their scripts, I get a lot of questions and hurt feelings from our membership:

"Why did I get a 1 rating?! I really put a lot of work and love into that script!"

"Who is ------ ---- and why did he/she give my script a 3 and say such mean things? That script really reflects my faith and my understanding of God's love."

"What is going on, Jim? I'm hurt. That play is the one that kids want to see over and over at my church. And some **** says it's unusable because of...."

I do my best to comfort them. I was happy to read here that what I tell them is the same things that I'm hearing you guys talk about in this forum.

I say: "Maybe they don't understand the rating system", "Maybe they're having a bad day." "Maybe they express their love of Jesus in a different way."

I hope it helps them. I mean, they took a risk by putting something that they care about out there for others to read and judge. They risked embarassment and harsh criticism. I think that's hard for ANY writer, but harder yet when you're expressing your love for Christ and for children.

Sadly, what I really think is that we, as a Christian community, and as a community of Christians dedicated to helping children to love God and the world that he has created, I think that we concentrate more on our differences than what we agree about.

That's Jim Hill's two-cents. It's nice to be able to have a frank discussion about these things among my peers. Thank you Jennifer for starting this discussion. (BTW: that's a lovely name. If I were to have a baby girl tommorrow, I would name her Jennifer or Aimee.)

God Bless you all and the children who are fortunate enough to have such thoughtful guides in their lives.

Well, yes, folks I did! Jim Hill said it and he said it in the nicest, most complimentary sort of way that Jim Hill says most things. (Aside from asking my son, Jim Jr (Carl)to take out the trash. I confess that I can get a little rude.)

Let me explain. Now only do I have the highest regard for our Jewish Friends, but I grew up with a close and personal Jewish Friend.

His name is Howard. (He's now converted and runs a wonderful ministry in Fullerton, and wrote a few of our better puppet plays on this site, notably, "The Cage" and "Goodbye, Lothar" but that's besides the point.) When we met we were both 17. He was the first Openly Jewish person I'd ever met. I was understandly upset about the role that his people played in crucifying my Lord.

Howard explained to me something that I've never forgotten. In his view, (and I apologize to Howard, for he is much more elequont than old Jim) the Jews were the only people that could have killed the Son of God.

Well, explained Howard, because they already had their covenant with God, through Abraham. They were already saved.

So when God cooked up this wonderful scheme to save all of Mankind, and sent his only Son to earth to accomplish this daunting task, He knew sadly that his son must shed his blood for the sake of all mankind. (I'm skipping all the biblical quotes here, because of course we all know it's true!)

And if anyone was going to be able to do this, to make sure that his Son would die, so that the plan could be completed, and that they themselves would not face eternal damnation for doing so...who could it be?

Only the Jews, who were already promised a place in Heaven.

And so I call Mel Gibson "Rabbi!"

Huh, Jim? Your mind-train jump the tracks?! It's possible sometimes, but not this time, because:

The highest form of compliment for one Jew to call another (Howard tells me) is to call him a Rabbi. It means that he is a wise and learned Jew.

And Mel Gibson is certainly that. He has "killed" our King again, this time on the silver screen, and he has done so in bright living color so that all the world can see.

And so I call him Rabbi Gibson.

That's old Jim's thoughts. With a lot of help from Howard. And plenty of help from Jim Jr. (Carl) who is writing all this down from my tapes.

God Bless you all, and remember:

"Let God take you where He takes you; and then you'll know you're there."

I guess the cat's out of the bag, that it is my birthday today. And a BIG Surprise for my birthday!

What a wonderful gift from the Lord to have my brother Tony write me such a play. Tony and I have traded places being the "black sheep of the family" for years, Tony for all the trouble he's gotten into, me for being who I am and loving Him (we come from a secular family). I've tried again and again to reach out, and, though this was a COMPLETE surprise, I did sense the Lord working in Tony's life.

Guess who the little scoundrel was in this caper? That's right, my adoptive son Jim Jr (Carl). He (I found out later) got a disk from Tony that afternoon after school, then posted it after I'd gone to bed. This morning, in what was probably really bad acting (not that this lunkhead noticed) he INSISTED that I go on line before work. Well, I did, and sure enough, I ended up checking out PuppetResources and wha-la!

You wouldn't believe the tears. That particular passage from Acts has always been a cornerstone of my Faith, and to find that it meant so much to my little brother (we're seperated in years by nearly 20) just...well words cannot say!

Sorry to yammer on! You are all such wonderful friends to put up with it!

Did you read his puppet play in our "Puppet Play" section? Did you see his picture? Do you see the family resemblance? Do you see the years of sin on his face? Do you see the love of Jesus in his eyes?

"Oh wait, Jim, I get it, you're just fed up with the whole commercializiation of His birthday?"

No (well yes, but) NO!

I'm just trying to lose some weight, people!

Okay, REWIND: This all started when my adoptive son, Jim Jr. (Carl) sat me down and said, more or less, "Dad, with all that's going on, the loss of the P2P Centre in Baldy, the big move to get the puppet2puppet site online, the death of so many p2p members...maybe it's time to lose something else."

Well, guess what he was talking about: my girth.

He's right, my beloved adoptive son. So I took Jim Jr (Carl)'s advice and I'm on that new fad diet, WWJE. And I have to say, the pounds are melting, well not melting, but slowly melting off.

Interested? What Would Jesus Eat: //www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785265198/102-8421812-8562508?v=glance

In any effect, accept my apologies for a short entry. Blame it on my growling (and hopefully shrinking) tummy. And blame it on my 'helpful' son! I do! Daily! Hourly!

Merry Christmas everyone and don't forget to love the children in your lives! They are the future!

Happy Thanksgiving from California!
We sure thanked God for our feast this season. After returning from our trip, Jim Jr. (Carl) and I found that we were in for the ride of our lives.

And we'd just covered over 3200 miles!

Seems the fires here in California really socked it to our California members. No one lost a home (THANK YOU LORD!) but there was enough evacuation and clean-up to go around.

The only casuality was the new P2P Centre.

I'm sorry to report that the New Institute Of Puppet Play Productions (the P2P Centre) is beyond repair. We were finally able to access the damage, and it is basically burnt to the ground, along with most of the other homes and building north of Mt. Baldy Village.

For all of you who put your backbones into building this centre, who believed it what we were trying to do there, who valued it as a meeting ground of Faith, and a testing ground for Puppet Plays -- we thank you.

Believe it or not, we'll be back. I know that this dream is too strong to die.

My son's words. He's not talking about his birthday. He's not talking about Prom Night. He's not even talking about the Apocalypse and the Rapture and Jesus Christ's immenent return. No really, he's not!

He's talking about our yearly road-trip!

That's right, every second Sunday in October, come rain, shine or Act Of God, we hit the open road. For 2 weeks it's just Jim Hill Sr., that'd be me, and my beloved adoptive son, Jim Jr. (Carl).

This little break helps us to rejoice in the Lord and to appreciate better what He has given us. Since we live in Sunny California (Riverside, home of last year's Survivor, Deena!), we seek to find Christian fellowship in different parts of the country.

This year's itinerary:

Puppet Outreach in Palm Springs (always a joy, because this is how Jim Jr. (Carl) came into my life).

A visit to our Northern Cal! friends in San Francisco with the inevitable antiqueing and trip to the Golden Gate bridge, such a thrill!

A few long, long days of driving through Nevada (quickly) and with stops in Idaho (Puppet Festival 2003 and our friend "Jimbo and I"), dropping down to Iowa to visit Johnny Puppet and meet his new son (named Jim, I am proud to report!), back up to a little church in South Dakota with a new Children's Pastor and a cry for help! help! help! puppet2puppet-style (glad to be of service, Jerry) and finally...

South Bend, Indiana. Our decidedly non-Catholic friend, Julian and his wife, will be hosting a performance of "Jiminy Cricket Was No Fool" and ALL FOUR PARTS OF THE HELLTOWN SERIES!

Then we fly like God's angels back for California, with a quick stop in Denver to make sure Jim Jr. (Carl)'s birth-mother is still getting her government money.

What a trip! I'm exhausted already!

But fear not, as usual, the trusted Tim Puppet will take up the slack and keep you up-to-date on the big changes, and, I'm sure, our progress on our little trip!